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Brisbane

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I don't think I mentioned that the sun rises a little before 5:00 a.m. here.  It's a combination of being close to the equator and also not being on daylight savings time.  Since the sun woke us up early, we visited a farmers' market for breakfast.  There was lots of variety of produce and prepared foods.  It was very busy even though we got there well before 8:00 a.m. We packed up for our final destination for the trip, Brisbane.  Lying north of the Gold Coast, Brisbane is built on a very snake like river that allows for lots of waterfront development.  Skyscrapers mixed with restaurants all along the banks.  To get an overall view, we took the ferry (which we could have stayed on for 2 or 3 hours just to make the entire loop).  Since  this used to be an industrial area servicing the port, many of the buildings have been re-purposed as entertainment venues, museums and office buildings. Brisbane hosted a world exhibition in ...
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Last Day on the Gold Coast

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Shrimp boats come in early every morning and sell both raw and cooked shrimp in various sizes straight from their boats.  They also sell other seafood, but the people were lined up predominately for the shrimp just like us. After we dropped off our shrimp, we headed north to take pictures of a dog.  Let me explain.  Our friends are putting together an alphabet picture book for their grandkids of pictures they have taken. X is a hard one, but there is a Mexican dog,   Xoloitzcuintli, that fit the bill.  There happened to be a couple of them pretty close by. In the afternoon, we wondered through a very nice, large, outdoor mall.  There was a mix of Australian stores and international brands.  Lots of people were shopping on a Saturday. Since it was close to Halloween, there was a Zombie Parade.  I have to say it wasn't really all that big and the zombies really were more walking than doing any zombie like moves, but it sti...
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Birds and More Birds

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We started off the morning early at  Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary  for the 8:00 a.m. Lorikeet feeding.  If you remember my photo from the beginning of the trip of the pretty, rainbow colored birds, this is the same one.  For a small donation you are handed a pie pan with nectar in it that the birds absolutely love.  Before you know it, you have birds on your head, arms, shoulders, hands, anywhere they can find a foothold to get to the food.  I would suggest planning a shower after the feeding just in case you're the victim of a little bird dropping.  I understand you can spend the entire day in the park if you would like to see more of the native species.  On our way to our next stop, we saw a beach with surfers off the shore, so we stopped to have a look.  The waves were not high which appeared to be the perfect condition for those just learning to surf. Our final destination of the morning was to see the pelicans near...
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Travel Days with Bonuses

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The next couple of days were travel days for us.  First, we traveled back to Adelaide from Kangaroo Island.  Before we left, we visited the extremely picturesque beach at Stokes Bay.  Walking among narrow rock passageway we arrived at the beach.  There were some kids playing in the protected pool having a great time.  We had lunch near the ferry terminal.  Fish and chips are popular here but we hadn't actually tried them yet.  These were delicious.  We caught an afternoon ferry back to the mainland in order to make it back for dinner with John & Phillippa's kids.  We were treated to a fantastic sunset. We had an early start the next morning to catch a plane from Adelaide to the Gold Coast.  We noticed .lax security is on domestic flights.  You can even bring liquids through security on board with you. Our friends have a condo in the tallest residential building in Surfers Paradise.  The 70th floor vantag...
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Fur Seals and Amazing Rocks

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While lounging around this morning, we were treated to a group of dolphins playing in the waters just down from our house.  David's eagle eye spotted them but the 100-400 lens really allowed us to see all the fun they were having. Early afternoon, we headed to  Kangaroo Island Spirits  for a tasting of some of their award winning gin.  Our hostess was from Wales here on a work visa.  She definitely was enthusiastic about KI, choosing it for its great climate and lack of flies!  The gin varieties were interesting and David found a couple to take back home.   Flinders Chase National Park  is on the opposite end of the island from our house.  There's really not much between it and Antarctica,  which means a good southerly breeze can be quite cold.  This state run park is huge with several day hikes and attractions for visitors.  We walked down to above the rocky shoreline via a series of steps and boardwalks....
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